A Place of My Own: The Architecture of Daydreams

With this updated edition of his earlier book, A Place of My Own, listeners can revisit the inspired, intelligent, and often hilarious story of Pollan’s realization of a room of his own—a small, wooden hut, his “shelter for daydreams” — built with his admittedly unhandy hands. Inspired by both Thoreau and Mr. Blandings, A Place of My Own not only works to convey the history and meaning of all human building, it also marks the connections between our bodies, our minds, and the natural world.

OK this fella thought out the whole thing... for years... with angst... and pain... and sorrow... and tons of time and thought.... He built a garage in the woods to write in???? ... I can not for any money ignore the ignorance of the author of the physical world... but if you have money and time and can make reasonable people take that money to humor you... gee that's the book... and he sells the entire place in a few years... Duh... no DUH.. .what an arrogant poofter... He makes a room the way Jacques Pepin makes a puff pastry... too much thinking...

Skin Tight

This novel by Carl Hiaasen, author of Tourist Season and Native Tongue, begins as most thrillers do, with a killing. But this is no everyday, hum-drum, garden variety killing. Our hero, Nick Stranahan, a 42-year-old private investigator who has killed five men and been married five times, skewers his attacker's aorta with the razor-sharp bill of a stuffed marlin.

10% Happier: How I Tamed the Voice in My Head, Reduced Stress Without Losing My Edge, and Found a Self-Help That Actually Works

After having a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America, Dan Harris knew he had to make some changes. A lifelong nonbeliever, he found himself on a bizarre adventure, involving a disgraced pastor, a mysterious self-help guru, and a gaggle of brain scientists.

But it was a good newspaper story about the benefits of mindfulness.... I'd say it was the MOST illuminating book re: this topic... all the others are a bit Mumbo Jumbo.... salesmanship and outright lies... . But Dan tells it like it is... Hey dummy... clean up... expect less and be happy with that... but if you can become "aware" or "mindful " you just might be a bit more engaged in what your daily life is and if it sucks well then you might just decide to have the balls to change it... golly that wasn't Buddha like

Manhattan Noir

"Readers of Brooklyn Noir will recall that its contents were labeled by neighborhood - Bay Ridge, Canarsie, Greenpoint, etc. We have chosen the same principle here, and the book's contents do a good job of covering the island, from C.J. Sullivan's Inwood and Charles Ardai's Upper East Side, to Justin Scott's Chelsea and Carol Lea Benjamin's Greenwich Village."

American Tropic

The exotic island city of the Florida Keys is being terrorized by murders committed by a mysterious voodoo assassin. With each new kill, it becomes clear that the skeleton-clad executioner has an ecological agenda. The novel propels us through a complex maze populated by defenders of America's only continental reef, rapacious developers, ruthless scammers, destroyers of marine life, and common people engaged in heroic acts to save their paradise. Everyone dreads being the killer's next victim as the clock counts down to the end of hurricane season and a final dramatic explosion of fear and rage.

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel hides the identity of a British nobleman who, masked by various disguises, leads a band of young men to undermine the Reign of Terror after the French Revolution. The Scarlet Pimpernel makes daring raid after daring raid into the heart of France to save aristocrats condemned to the guillotine. At each rescue, he leaves his calling card: a small, blood-red flower - a pimpernel - mocking the power of Robespierre and his Committee of Public Safety.

Classic period piece of adventure, intrigue and a love story too. The writing and performance is tight and gripping and doesn't dawdle so you are on the edge of your seat all the way through. I've known this title for ages and now I know what it means. A good read.

The Bat: The First Inspector Harry Hole Novel

Before Harry took on the neo-Nazi gangs of Oslo, before he met Rakel, before The Snowman tried to take everything he held dear, he went to Australia. Harry Hole is sent to Sydney to investigate the murder of Inger Holter, a young Norwegian girl who was working in a bar. Initially sidelined as an outsider, Harry becomes central to the Australian police investigation when they start to notice a number of unsolved rape and murder cases around the country. The victims were usually young blondes. Inger had a number of admirers, each with his own share of secrets, but there is no obvious suspect.

The crimes were never really solved till everything comes together. Then it all made perfect sense

What does John Lee bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Lee is my favorite narrator. He reads with restrained passion. He also speaks Austrailian superbly

Any additional comments?

I'd just finished "In a Sunburnt Country" by Bill Bryson. His travels thru the land down under. The Bat takes place in Austrailia so I got to stay in character for this book or in country you might say

Red Planet Blues

Alex Lomax is the one and only private eye working the mean streets of New Klondike, the Martian frontier town that sprang up 40 years ago after Simon Weingarten and Denny O’Reilly discovered fossils on the Red Planet. Back on Earth, where anything can be synthesized, the remains of alien life are the most valuable of all collectibles, so shiploads of desperate treasure hunters stampeded to Mars in the Great Martian Fossil Rush.

OK so we're on Mars, the planet. Once you believe this here's your likeable flawed charming babe chasing guy trying to do right for his clients. The writing is classic light noir, so prepare to chuckle a bit. Easy reading

What about Christian Rummel’s performance did you like?

The narration was clear and entertaining. Very good character voice and emotion.

Any additional comments?

It ain't Tolstoy but it isn't trashy either. A good romp on Mars in a good guys (gum) shoes.

1919

With 1919, the second volume of his U.S.A. trilogy, John Dos Passos continues his "vigorous and sweeping panorama of 20th-century America" (Forum), lauded on publication of the first volume not only for its scope but also for its groundbreaking style. The novel opens to find America and the world at war, and Dos Passos's characters, many of whom we met in the first volume, are thrown into the snarl.

This is the second book in a huge trilogy. I read it withought reading the other book first. If you really want to invest a massive allotment of time I'd read them in order. Wiki the author and you might even start with a smaller monograph prior to this writing. I like this style characters sketches and stories of real people living life up hill. He captures, like the faded sepia photos of the dust bowl farmers , the character and times his actors are living in. The action is believable and the emotions true. His narrative is punctuated with real news flashes and song and a variety of period headlines which complement the naratives of the protagnists. At a later date I'll explore the other writings of this lesser known contemporary of Hemmingway, and Fitsgerald. Seriously entertaining, enchanting.

The Sea

The narrator is Max Morden, a middle-aged Irishman who, soon after his wife's death, has gone back to the seaside town where he spent his summer holidays as a child; a retreat from the grief, anger, and numbness of his life without her. But it is also a return to the place where he met the Graces, the well-heeled vacationing family with whom he experienced the strange suddenness of both love and death for the first time.

OK first John Lee can read a phone book and it would be worth listeng to. This tale is about a person who spends time at THE SEASHORE, not at sea. He has a troubled tragic life and time and remembers it all with you as he writes this. He does not however remember it in any logical form but rather changes time and characters extensively. This left me as the reader lost to figure out what was what and when it all happened. This detracted from whatever story he was trying to tell. In movie form you might have visual cues as to where the pieces of his life fit together but I didn't like it here. Now you may say that I have no appreciation for his artfull stream of consciousness and rich descriptive language. The former no the latter yes.

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